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Home » Hopped up horrors in the headlines: Drugs Pt. 2 by Angel Perkins

Hopped up horrors in the headlines: Drugs Pt. 2 by Angel Perkins

Ten years ago, to me, the introduction to meth (not personally) was that it was a “farm drug” because people were stealing ingredients from farmers to concoct the stuff. When you see all the people arrested that make or take the stuff I wonder how in the world they were able to do so without killing themselves — quickly, I mean.
And I just don’t get how a person cannot see themselves in the mirrors. They can’t see the lines, the bags, their skeletons threatening to burst through their gray and waxing skin? No. They see it, but rehabilitation is so expensive that they can’t get help. They have no one to keep food in their children’s bellies and a roof over their heads while they get clean.
I’m sure any addict of any drug will tell you they wish they didn’t have to ingest their particular poison — but make no mistake — they DO have to. The chemicals in their brains, now forever affected, have become discombobulated and without a medicated transformation, substitute drugs and final weaning, they will never be able to recover.
As a write this I get another arrest for meth in my inbox. More people, like the 10th this week, just in my general readerships’ areas, whose lives are ruined … and I think of the people around them whose lives are — by relation — ruined, and I still ask why?
For what? Because they wanted to find a way to be happy and weren’t big fans of alcohol; pot was illegal; and doctor appointments, therapy services and prescriptions cost too much?
So they took that one dose of meth and were immediately addicted. Now they just have to put that potent mix together, in their homes, in their cars … heck, some can’t even get out of the stores they bought the ingredients from before they feel the need to start making it they want it so bad so they head to the public restrooms!
So you have the people trying to legalize marijuana (and some succeeding). Some see it as a money-maker. If the government has control of it, they will be able to monitor it and run pot dealers out of business and off to get real jobs — which it will. Picture “joints/doobies/sticks” sold by the pack. You don’t see some shady character in an alley pushing tobacco at you because he has it cheaper than the gas stations do you? So neither would you find a pot dealer doing that.
He might have something more potent to sell for sure — there will always be lazy people trying to make that easy money — but unlike alcohol, pot isn’t addictive; it doesn’t make one violent, it won’t make you vomit or miss work the next day. So what’s the harm really?
I assure you there WOULD be many new and uncommon crimes to tend with. Rather than having to arrest someone for carrying on them a bag of green stuff law enforcement would have to pull people over and ticket them for driving too slow.
Officers in Colorado will now likely have to arrest people for trying to get in the wrong car or house. Officers would have to arrest people for sitting in one place for too long a period of time. And, employers in Washington might have to fire a bunch of people for falling asleep at their desks or spending half of their work day trying to get a Twinkie out of a vending machine or playing trash can basketball.
You would also have to kick people out of movie theaters and restaurants for their laughing too hard. But you wouldn’t see a “stoner” robbing a bank to pay for his habit.
An attempt would go something instead like:
Robber — “Um. Hey. Give me some money so I can buy some chips?”
Clerk — “You want me to give you money out of the register … so you can pay me … for A bag of chips?”
Robber — “Uh. Yeah. I guess so.”
Clerk — “I don’t get it. Why?”
Robber — “Why, what?”
Clerk — “The chips, remember?”
Robber — “Dude. I got the munchies.”
Clerk — “No, DUDE. Get outta here. Get a job.”
Robber — “Oh. Right. Hahaha! You hiring?”
I’m truly NOT a pot advocate — there are plenty of paranoid, lethargic and stupid people on the planet already — but like I look at most things in life, what other people do behind closed doors isn’t my business. As long as you aren’t hurting anyone, or forcing something that negatively affects another, on another, then have at it.
Government control of it would assure the potency of the stuff would be monitored, and people would then stop concocting Mr. Happy or whatever other synthetics to allow for a peaceful rejuvenation, which — made without a legitimate science lab — appears to only make people fly off the deep end, or worse yet, sometimes have a craving for humans instead of Ring Dings.
On another avenue, think on this: The next time you get a prescription — or even something over the counter — read the potential risks and side effects. They are much more frightening than the burning away of brain cells and lung damage that marijuana use adversely offers. And alcohol burns even more, while it destroys your liver and typically, your relationships.
Logically: with all the horrid side effects other drugs — including prescription medications, alcohol, illegal drugs and even cigarettes — have, which amount to your body literally rotting away — why not instead simply smoke something that grows naturally from the earth, that is not addicting, and that comes with side effects including hunger, paranoia, excessive laughter and sleepiness?
Again, not pushing for the stuff. I am as impatient with and impartial to stoners as well as tweakers, but let’s remember why people are trying to stop the legalization of pot in the first place. To keep them from going to anything worse. It’s a “gateway” remember? I’m pretty confident that if someone is inclined to snort something or inject something into themselves, whether or not they smoked marijuana won’t have a big influence over their decision — they MAY just have an easier time finding the harder stuff through association with the dealers in general.
And let me not forget to comment that the DARE program is a well-intended, good-hearted program and the men and women running it, dedicated to encouraging children to make the best decisions in their futures. They build bonds and make examples and instill influences that can not be forgotten and likely wouldn’t be done or made otherwise.
The initiative COULD however be a little more informative. When (years ago) my kid’s “information” got my house searched for drugs because the officer had told her drugs were illegal, and not only did I have the “addictive drug” nicotine that I “smoked every day” but also “bottles of (prescribed medications) pills everywhere,” I was in no way appreciative of their efforts.
I can see her poor ashamed face as she cried to the teacher about her entire, horribly-addicted family (the majority of whom smoked cigarettes and about half sip the egg nog or beer during the big game) was entirely unnecessary and traumatizing … to many people. They need to be a little more clear on what’s a drug, an illegal drug, and what’s a suggestion to keep away from.
Legalizing pot will add to violence in general and to the death toll too. It would incur many more road rage and other incidences where people want to “knock the stupid” out of another, and it will make people fatter — which will lead to more heart disease, and diabetes.